Reporting
Iran: Despite arrests, families still fear schoolgirl poisonings
Audio 01:21
People are rescued from a school in Fardis, after alleged cases of poisoning, in a photo from a video from March 1, 2023. © Reuters
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Iran, despite the arrests announced by the authorities, mysterious poisonings in girls' schools continue.
The case has created a stir with thousands of schoolgirls who became unwell after breathing in suspicious gas and were taken to hospital.
Families remain terrified, some preferring to withdraw their children out of fear and pointing fingers at the regime.
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With our special correspondent in Tehran,
Murielle Paradon
On leaving a college in Tehran, a mother waits in anguish for her 13-year-old daughter.
The establishment is practically empty while the school holidays have not yet started: the parents preferred to withdraw their children
for fear of poisoning
.
"
I'm really worried,"
said this mother.
My daughter is a college student and I came to school to tell her that she wouldn't come until the holidays, we have a knot in our stomachs.
Of course, it is the diet that is behind the poisonings and no one else!
They do what they want !
»
A punishment from the regime for some
For many Iranians, the regime punishes girls for their participation in the
protest movement against the Islamic veil
.
Shirin, 13, mobilized in her school: “
We wrote slogans on the walls, on the tables and in the corridors of our school.
Yes, the movement will continue at 100%!
»
One of her comrades, in uniform and without a veil, adds: “
One of my friends says that the regime wants to eliminate our generation of girls, because we have gone off the right path.
He would like to create a new generation that he could educate as he wants!
»
“
And you want to be educated how?
To which she replies: “
What can I say, apart from azadi!
“Azadi”, or “
freedom
” in French:
one of the now famous slogans of protesters in Iran
.
►Also read: In Iran, the authorities singled out in the case of the poisoning of schoolgirls
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